Challenges In Susan Wendell's The Social Construction Of Disability

Many of us have encountered someone with a disability or are not fully able-bodied ourselves. One of my high school friends has cerebral palsy and is wheelchair bound. Even though it is regulated that schools must be handicap accessible, I saw the struggles my friend went through because our society is structure based on the perfectly able-bodied. Due to his condition, my friend was not allowed to take tests at the same time as the rest of the students. He was excluded, and this further ostracized him based on his condition. Even though some disabilities are easily seen, invisible illnesses and disabilities can be just as troublesome. Both visible and invisible disabilities suffer from the social and cultural construction that society imposes on every person. …show more content…
101). This is demonstrated with the presence of wars, invasions, and terrorism, and it is calamitous that the amount of these is increasing every day. World violence is accompanied with obvious combat injuries, but the spread of disease and famine caused by the violence also serves to increase the rate of disabilities (Wendell, p. 101). Disability is also socially constructed with the availability of resources, such as food, water, and shelter (Wendell, p. 101). Lack of basic human resources has the potential to increase a society’s prevalence of disability by depriving a person’s physical body and mental well-being of the basic needs for